A Zoo of Kung Fu
by Tokubi
Summary: After the entire event of Night Howlers, a newcomer from a long time ago is here with the rest of our cast. Things have changed sure... but Po has never lived in his timeline. And among many of the things that have changed, some has and still remain the same. Po will now live what is technically considered the future, but to him, is the present.
1. Chapter 1

**JUST TO CLARIFY, Kung Fu Panda is owned by Dreamworks. Zootopia is owned by Disney.**

 **You got that?!**

 **And there is no shipping in this work of fiction, so don't get your hopes up!** **But, there is another form of love in this story, and many readers will probably hate it and that's fine. We all have our own opinions.**

 **By the way, a big character will be referenced.**

* * *

At the treks of the world, the city was now waking up as the sun had risen somewhere to indicate it was early morning. Actually take that back; the sun hasn't even risen yet, but light was seeping off the horizon in the dark night of the sky. The current half of the Earth was gonna get its sunshine.

And a certain animal was definitely not prepared for it.

Zootopia, colorful with its tall skyscrapers, was growing ever more alive. The streets were now slowly becoming filled with animals of all kind. Lizards, crocodiles, wolves, and many more exotic creatures brought such life to the city. It's quite a feat that more newer animals, carnivore and herbivore alike, were still being discovered and were now taken notice around the corners over every building.

It just felt like another happy life being captured within a phone.

Speaking of phones, a young green viper snaps a photo of herself along with a few friends in the town square, smiling and giggling with their small talk. They were just waiting at a bus stop to head to school. While in the meantime, a big topic around town of a group from China was visiting and presenting a great warrior representing Kung Fu. The girls talked about the news becoming largely present within the city.

"Have you heard? There are rumors of a cub that's going to represent a place called the Jade Palace. A cub!" A few of the girls were squirming excitedly from the words. Although a few more could say they didn't care.

"Did you also know that the guy running the place is a turtle? Apparently, he's called the master of that Jade Palace." An elephant said. "But, isn't he too slow to be a master?" The animals all looked at each other, some giving a few shrugs.

"I heard he's over a thousand years old. Even more than that. So he would be too slow to even show us how his moves work." Another stated. "He probably won't be able to walk, not even try to move along his shell!" The animals laughed, all except for one who was too busy looking over her phone. "Does he have a wife and kids, or even grandchildren?"

They all looked at each other. It was then a terrible sense of uneasiness arose in the air around them as the question further continued into their minds. You know you would have some knowledge about certain things no matter how something would seem, and your brain just thinks up of a conclusion on its own. But the thought of a turtle who was over a thousand years old and maybe even more than that, having kids and maybe grandchildren, was still going with a female turtle who probably hasn't even lived that long AND was the master of Kung Fu?

They could feel their souls being nagged as chills went up all their spines.

"Hey... Viper? What do you... think?" A giraffe asked nervously.

A small green viper with two lotus flower clips on her head and three white beads on her tail, swiped away at her phone. She was too encapsulated on SnapBack to even notice the girls, as she scrolled down on a few selfies of fit but not ripped teenage male tigers. She looked sheepishly, muttering a few words here and there, before going through the effort of continuing down the page.

She wore a moderate amount of makeup, with black eyelashes, a thin line of red lipstick, some perfume, and maybe a touch to her cheeks, but that was about it. Of course, she held on to a purse holding a good amount of things needed for regular needs. You could probably tell that she has some attitude but it's quite the opposite. Her physical appearance may be what you call, *ahem*, a thot, but that's just her childish side, and it's VERY blue eyes reflected off the screen shining its light a bit as she looked over her mail and put away the phone in her purse.

"Is he even fit?" She turned to the group. This brought of a ton of confusion from the girls as they tried thinking of how care free Viper was. Her innocence was that of someone who has a great father and mother, or really, that of her parents. But, she wasn't ignorant. Rather, more curious of what the world had to offer. Though her choice of words, along with her grammar, could give animals the wrong idea.

"If this turtle can do Kung Fu, then obviously, he had to go through the effort of becoming fit to move his body even faster than a normal turtle." She phrased. Every single girl within that group were mesmerized again by how nonchalant Viper was about the whole conversation. Yet, how she never let her straight face quiver, is a whole other story.

"So... does he have muscles?"

...

If they could face fault into the ground just like cartoon characters, they would, but something about Viper's face gave them a restless facade.

A few leaves rustled against the concrete behind the girls, some falling from trees and following a river of green as the blooms of tree branches waved from the breeze. They all wore the same shade of green and followed in one general direction as the wind guided them to some random destination. Some petals were hitting against others, some scratching against the ground, some flowing in pairs, and others passing one another. Every now and then you could see distinct features such as wrinkles, or pieces of the leaflets missing, or browning within those leaves, but they were all nonetheless the same.

One of the leaves though, was not even a leaf but a petal of a cherry blossom. It twirled around albeit in a weird unpredictable pattern, crashing against the green leaves, leaping over them, spinning in a rather subtle manner, and even floating back to where it came from. I could say what this blossom is doing is rather annoying and maybe eye catching, yet if anyone were to look at the blossom intently, they would notice not how much it would stand out, but by how much it lingered in one spot without moving for minutes on end. While it may be a little quick on its movements, whenever it stopped, it truly stopped, almost as if lost of all life.

It, again, stood completely still as the green leaves ignored the blossom, moving along in a general direction. Though this time, the petal didn't move for quite a while.

The wind, although an unpredictable being of its own, never took any thing into thought as it would only move anything if it could, but some part of life thought different as the gentle breeze changed into wind, pushing the blossom away from the bushes.

It didn't twirl around this time, only spiraling up and down on occasion. Though, it came into this cool pattern of bouncing up and down, lightly and softly, as if it were amusing itself. The blossom passed by a small retail playing music in the store. It looped around to the note of a saxophone who was playing quite dirty as the petal continued down in front of a restaurant.

You could imagine some faint beats playing around the city as the blossom traveled across streets. And while there were certainly different tunes being played around the block, the tempo somehow remained the same. The blossom's random jolts of flight, slowly but surely, went along with the kicks of drums in the area.

The blossom was gaining air as the beat gradually became more clear, almost emphasizing the kick of said drums. You could say, it gained confidence and went for a high rise, but the action would be met with the same kinetic energy. Another blossom appeared... and bumped against the original leaflet. The two were now on the ground as they suddenly lost all momentum from the contact. It was quite ironic how the blossoms were on the pavement though, as one was keeled over the other. The two petals laid there awkwardly for a while, until the blossom on top looked like it struggled to get up.

Po groaned as he tried to gain his bearings, though his head was struck with a stinging pain like a bolt of lightning, which made him instinctively bring both paws to his face. He could feel himself becoming lighter and his body felt like it was floating just inches above the concrete. He heard a moan coming from underneath his chest followed by a weird slithering sensation moving along from his stomach down to a 'certain' area.

"Woah! I'm sorry!" He shivered from another smooth feeling and quickly got up, giving himself and the person some space. Though, what he saw next instinctively made him tilt his head.

Viper squinted while curling herself up and hissing at the headache forming in her skull. She got up and tried to calm down the pulsing beats on her head while rubbing the bridge of her nose. For what seemed a while, she opened her eyes and looked around, finding a very skinny panda sitting on the floor staring at her with his head to the side and the group of girls looking back and forth to her and the panda, yet they seemed to give a more surprised look at the panda for some reason. She gave a confusing look at Po and a blank look to-

"What are you?"

Everyone's attention shifted to Po, who instantly came up to Viper's face. They all gasped at how fast the panda came so close to the snake without them even realizing it themselves.

Viper leaned back a bit as he looked into her eyes with a very curious look on his face. She didn't know how to feel seeing that a black and white bear just somehow fell on her, apologized for bumping into her, and was now staring probably into her very soul with his very jade eyes. She was surprised by the fact that she didn't sense any danger around her.

"Why are you so pretty?" Po asked. She was completely baffled and stuttered for a bit when a group of animals yelled behind Po, and it looks to be a mob of some sort.

"Get that panda!" A moose said. He was holding onto a rolling pin while he stomped angrily towards the duo. The shape of his condition could get some people staring at him since he had white powder covering his entire body.

"That little rascal is making too much trouble!" A rhino yelled.

"He stole some of my food!"

"That panda splattered trash across my front porch!"

"He scared all of the birds away within my shop!"

"Po walked across my pavement!" An old goat said. The entire mob turned to her with a look of seriousness, and she realized what she said. "Darn, I'm getting too excited about that young panda."

The hiss of air sounded, and all the young animals turned to the bus arriving at the bus stop. The doors opened to the sight of a ruffled looking thrush, with a cap hiding its eyes, sighing and calling out to the kids.

"Get on if you don't want trouble." It muttered. It's voice was very deep for someone who looked normal.

The group of girls rushed in through the entry almost blocking said entryway by going in simultaneously. Po and Viper were shoved inside along with the rest of the girls as they all found seats for themselves. The door shut quickly and the sound of an angry mob slowly fainted as the bus drove away.

The bus wasn't packed, except for the students who were sitting randomly among the free seats in the bus, and some soft radio talk could be made out. The interior was like the inside of a passenger train, with all the metal bars lining down the isle, the cushions of chairs with smooth red cloth, and those hooks for your hands hanging up on the ceiling. The isle itself was made with black rubber, giving grip for those who choose to wear shoes, if there were any.

Po stood in the middle of the isle, not really knowing what to do. He glanced at the bus driver who somehow drove the bus with his eyes completely blocked by his hat, and glanced back over to the passengers, all of which were oddly silent. He noticed a lot of them were looking down onto their phones, never moving much except for the shake of the bus every now and then. So, he pondered a bit and brought a fist down on his palm.

He took a seat on an open window.

Viper shook her head and stopped Po from leaning back too much by grabbing onto his wrist. "What do you think doing?" She whispered, aggravated. "How do you even fit in there? And aren't pandas' supposed to be fat?"

"What's a panda?" He asked absent mindedly.

She looked at him agape with a feeling of hidden empathy. "What do you mean 'what's a panda', you ARE one aren't you?"

He took a moment to think giving a look of serious thought. He brought a paw to his nose, scratched it a bit, and laid it back down to his lap. "Am I supposed to be a panda?"

Viper thought of the direction the small conversation was going. There were questions being answered with more questions, so that wouldn't really get her anywhere. The bear was sitting on a window, was basically falling off the rim of said window, which she pulled him back into the bus and on the seat, and he didn't even know who he was or what he is. There's not really a lot going for her at the moment.

She sighed to herself and looked off to the front of the bus, where the bird was still driving blindly but drove like any other person would. She could feel the bus slow down as the driver reached over to the dashboard and turned up the volume.

"-and ever since the upbringing of new animals traveling to Zootopia, the city is becoming even more of an eye-catcher for animals of all kind. The sight of reptiles and birds alike are becoming even more common among all folk." The voice was female and had a small British accent.

The bus leaned forward as it slowed down at a stoplight.

"The paradigm, excuse me, paradise of mammals is now becoming a paradise for animals of all kind! Some mammals are questioning whether this is good or not, ever since the incident of the 'Night Howlers' with predators going wild and causing chaos, has still left a few mammals worried of 'inside jobs' with the use of night howlers." A male voice followed. "A question a few animals have asked is how will Zootropolis handle all of this, and what will they think of the future? Mayor Leodore Lionheart has answered that it-"

"Hm." The thrush turned the knob to left as the voice died down. He left his claw hanging there for a while before deciding to change to another radio station.

"SHE CALL ME MR. BOOM-BASTIC, SAY ME FANTASTIC!"

The girls scattered around the bus jumped at the immediate ear rape since there was a lot of bass vibrating against the walls. The beat kicked like a bomb before he turned down the music.

"Sorry about that." He said looking back to the passengers.

The girls grumbled and mumbled quietly to themselves as they soon got back to their 'breaking their necks', though most of them found their muscles sore and decided to talk with each other. Viper could feel a sense of satisfaction coming from the front of the bus, but she decided to shift her attention to Po.

"What is your-" She looked at the spot where he originally sat at but could only find a dotted outline of him. She turned around looking for him and found the panda sitting at the stairs leading to the door. She slithered quickly to him, wondering how he got there so fast and so silently as well.

"What are you doing?! You're supposed to sit at the seats provided in the bus!"

"But this is technically a seat, isn't it?"

"That is not a somewhere you're supposed to sit!"

"Why not?"

"Because!"

"Because why?"

"Because the law says so!"

"What's the law?"

"Something you should follow!"

"Oh... Where is it then?"

Viper took a moment to take in what he just said. "What? Where did that come from?"

"Well..." Po got up and looked directly towards Viper. "You said that I should follow the law. So... where is it?"

...

Again, she took a moment trying to think of a way to respond, though nothing came up to her mind. She sighed as she tried to calm down the confusion and frustration building up in her. Now even when asking a question and getting another one back, whenever she says something to him, he still asks ANOTHER question. She has never felt the need to go and smash her head in more than now.

"The struggle is real." The thrush chuckled.

Viper turned to the bird and watched him turn the wheel to the right, spiraling twice, holding the turn, and letting the bus straighten itself out. She could hear the click of a knob after he finished the turning the corner, and looked out to the rest of the bus. A few girls were recording the whole ordeal and after she looked at them, they rushed back to the safety of their seats, trying in vain to hide themselves.

 _This is going to SnapBack for real._ She sighed again.

"Why do you look so upset?" She turned to the panda who now looked at her with albeit an overwhelming amount of concern. "Is everything okay?"

A click of her tongue slipped out of her mouth. She growled at her lack of composure but was then overlapped with sadness. "Yeah. Everything is fine."

"You don't look like everything is fine." He said blatantly. She could feel herself cower at the statement and it didn't even help that he spoke with such a straight look. All she could really do now was look down upon her coils. "By the way, where is your bag?"

Her eyes widened. _Don't you dare tell me I forgot my bag._ She came up to her seat and searched for her purse. It wasn't there. FML were the only words that went through her mind. She recalled everything that happened and retraced her memories to see where she left it.

A moment of silence loomed over Viper. "FU-"

"Miss, we have children in the bus and I think you're not old enough to use that kind of language. Please remain in your seat while we arrive to school cause I don't want to get fired for having a mother yelling at me for the responsibility of kids, thank you." The sound of static dwindled as the thrush put away his mic.

She growled and came up to where Po was standing, only to find another dotted outline of him. Though, the doors of the bus were now open. She blinked turning over to the driver.

He was looking out into who knows where with that blind sight of his. "You wanna get after him? The bus is stopped you know."

* * *

She wriggled around occasionally to pass through a few animals walking through the sidewalk of every block within the neighborhood of skyscrapers. She undermined the traffic as that were least of her problems, going through green lights, slipping through gaps, and crawling under vehicles while also not ruining the flower clips on her. Many animals gasped and shrieked as she moved throughout the neighborhood, though no sound would ever reach into her head. She bumped into a bag flying directly at her and skidded against the ground.

"Ow..."

"Gah! I'm sorry about that!" A grey bunny appeared behind the bag.

"Grr..." Viper grumbled and her body shook as she got up. Her height was incomparable to the mammal, as she stood over her like a dragon.

"Wait! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hit you!"

Her eyes slitted as she sped past the furry bunny, yelling out to whoever was listening in. "I AM NOT LOSING MY PURSE!" Surprisingly her mobility improved as she leaped over a construction zone and slithered down the curb.

"Huh. Didn't know there were snakes of that color. Did you Carrots?" A fox appeared next to the bunny, looking out to where the viper went. He smiled widely as he saw a face that she would ever rarely make. "Guess not." He made a mental note to himself and muttered 'three'.

Viper took two minutes to trace back to where the stop was, having to make loops and speed past more oncoming traffic, and finally found the bag held onto the panda. "You got to be kidding me!" She shook with frustration, before she stopped and quivered. Three very tall and quite muscular officers in blue were crowding the panda, giving some serious looks of suspicion to Po. She tried to get a better look at the panda, though the cops were covering every side of him and it didn't help for the fact that they were all muscular as one crouched down to Po's level.

She sighed. It sucked that she forgot her own bag but it became even worse for the police to get involved with this. "If only dad weren't part of that clan." She calmly walked over to a lamp post nearby and climbed up to the top of it, careful of the light to avoid burning herself. She peered over the group, having to lean quite a ways to the left with a tremendous amount of grip just by hanging from the end of her tail.

"Why do the cops have to be so buff? Can't they just let their muscles be used as much as their head?" She hissed. She pulled herself back to the street light and scanned the area. There were quite a few animals roaming around the square opening but they all seem to be busy with the pace most of them were walking.

 _Looks like I have to wait._ She growled silently.

* * *

"Wow. They are definitely trying throw away everything they got." Judy turned over to the fox behind her who was looking at a banner with a sale of more than fifty percent off of all products. Both of them were wearing their normal clothes, Judy wearing a regular blue T-shirt and black leggings and Nick wearing his Hawaiian light green collared T-shirt, khakis, and a striped dark blue and red tie hanging off his neck.

"Hey! At least pay attention to what's more important than a sale!" She puffed.

"Well, it seems that little miss bouncy over here is impatient." He commented, changing into a more serious tone. They were both following Viper since she caused quite a scene with her acrobatic skills and her yelling. Judy thought of the idea and the bunny insisted that they follow the viper. Nick could really care anymore than he did, but with Judy around he couldn't afford to get forced into something so embarrassingly with quite a stubborn bunny like her.

They both stopped at the town square finding Viper staring at a few officers.

He headed over to a served-on-the-spot restaurant and paid for noodles and rice to go. "Oh, and convince your chef to put some diced mangoes on my rice." He leaned against the counter and watched the group of officers interacting with an interesting sight. "Rare to see a panda around here, don't you think Carrots?" He looked over to Judy who was completely lost in thought whilst staring at the officers.

"You know you're gonna give yourself away if you stare at them too much." He said while slowly tugging her closer to the counter. She stood in silence, staring at the center of the group where Po was. "I don't know where that panda came from Carrots," The fox said, startling Judy and making her jump at least seven feet high. "But, you're looking too much into this. Widen your perception and instead of looking closely, how about getting a better view?"

Did he just read her mind? She fell to the ground and landed awkwardly. "Did you just read my mind?!" She turned to him.

"What'd you see?"

"What do you mean what did I see? And you didn't answer my question!"

"Well, you jumped about as high as a basketball player, so you must've seen something." The cashier handed him a styrofoam takeout box. "Oh and some chopsticks. Don't want to eat big chunks of food."

The cashier gave him a blank stare.

He returned her stare with a smug one.

...

She held out a pair of chopsticks and dropped them onto the counter. "Thanks." He turned to find Judy still looking quite upset at him, going so far as to puff her cheeks. "The police are leaving the panda." He said. Judy whipped her head around and watched the officers walking away. Though, what garnered their attention was to see a young panda looking so skinny in the middle of the block. A feeling of empathy came from Judy, noticing how Po wasn't wearing a shirt, and the amount of patches on his shorts could show how worn out his clothing was.

Nick eyed the panda and looked over to Viper, who watched for any spies of some sort. The way her eyes were slitted indicated that the panda was held some kind of importance to her. He hummed to himself.

"Let's see what she's gonna do now."

Viper hissed as she dropped down onto the floor and charged after Po, whizzing past the onlookers with amazing speed. "Let go of my purse!" She leaped and prepared to whip his face.

Po whipped his head to Viper and smiled. "Here's your bag!" He held out the purse to Viper which she instinctively took from him. He followed her landing on the ground, wrapping her coils onto the purse. She looked up to him and hissed silently, sticking out her tongue every now and then.

"So, its just a thief?" Judy asked rhetorically.

"Or a really dense panda." Nick answered.

The two kids were staring at each other, though Po was a little more laid back, and you can tell with how his shoulders were drooped and the way his body posture was relaxed.

...

"Damn! That watch is eighty dollars total? I could pay for two hundred popsicles with that money!"

Judy sighed and pulled Nick by his necktie, grabbing his jaw and turned his face to the kids.

"So, what are those things in your head?" Po asked.

"Tulips."

"Tulips are pink?"

"It was sarcasm, if you didn't know." She scoffed.

He thought to himself for a moment "What's sarcasm?"

"Nun ya."

Po's face whitened. "Aw crap! I completely forgot!" Viper became bewildered by Po's change in tone, catching her off guard. Po brought his paws up to his face, looking like the world was about to end. Judy prepped over what the panda was gonna do next, with the bunny bringing her large ears down.

"Do you know where nun ya business is?"

A large stone of silence fell over Judy and Viper, though Nick couldn't help but snicker uncontrollably to himself, having to grab on to his sides and doing his best to keep quiet. But it was getting harder and harder the longer he looked at the expressions everyone had. At this point Viper didn't know what to do, but a weird feeling of frustration came upon her and she face tailed herself after processing what he just said.

"Oh my GOD! That IS IT!" She put her purse down and ran up to Po.

Judy was about to jump at her, but Nick brought his arm against her. "I don't think that's a good idea, Carrots."

Judy almost yelled at Nick, holding back her voice as much as she can."What?! Why?"

"Look at her tattoos." He continued. "Those aren't ordinary designs made by the people around here. They look a little too well made for a girl like her."

The panda still had his worry lingering on him, but it soon faded as he watched Viper running up to his leg. There was definitely something she had against him and he was about to get hit with that thing against him. He pulled his foot out of the way and watched Viper continue to move past him, circling back to him and used her entire body to swipe him off his feet. He fell on his paws and launched himself up away from the snake. She watched him land and aimed for his head, kicking herself up off the air and shaped her body into a spear with her tail approaching Po at as fast rate.

Po quickly looked up to see Viper aiming her tail between his eyes and grabbed her tail, tossing her to the side. Although he faltered a bit after tossing her, trying to gain his balance as his eyes followed how gracefully she landed. She somehow managed to change the direction of her momentum, using her tail to shift the weight of her body to swing her momentum back to Po, and she was back onto him again. She leaped up and curved her body into a circle, aiming to hit the end of her tail against his forehead.

Po stepped off to the side and felt the ground shake for a moment. He took a few steps back and found a small web of cracks where the snake had presumably landed. What caught him though was how Viper wasn't seen there along with the small crater she made. He felt something wrap along his neck, tightening until Viper herself brought her eyes in front of his. She said nothing as her coils continued closing upon his neck, along with her staring directly into his jade eyes waiting for a line of fear to appear on him.

Po didn't know what to do at the moment. He didn't exactly do what anyone else would do in a situation like this, like retaliating by grabbing her coils, or keeping his head up, or doing anything in the matter. Although, a really big feeling of wanting to sit down flooded his mind. But with, Viper staring literally at his eyes, he slowly felt himself coming closer to her.

He tried saying something only to feel his voice letting out a gag. Okay, he can feel some pain slowly closing in on his throat, and why is he starting to feel dizzy? He looked down and watched as Viper's coils wrapped around him securely. He looked back up to Viper and tried speaking again.

"Urk." Right. Forgot that he can't speak. Viper watched as he landed on his butt like a gallon of water fell on him.

"He's not even trying to defend himself! Isn't now a good time to help him?!" Judy sarcastically asked. She held her paws out waiting for a response.

"Huh? You can go anytime you want Carrots, nothing's stopping you." The fox said as if it were obvious.

"But they're in trouble! We need to-" She caught herself in her own words. As if the gun to a marathon sounded, she ran like the twin towers were falling behind her.

Po could feel the world around him disappear, the only thing to be able to look at being Viper's blue eyes. The space between the two of them decreased, as she stared without any remorse. Judy ran as fast as she could and hopped to increase her speed holding her hand out.

Everything became a lot more slower. Vipers coils, Judy flying in the air, Nick watching from afar... All the animals who were walking looked like statues, stuck in the middle of an impossible pose. A sudden thought came to Po and without even realizing it, the space between the two of them became non-existent, as Po's sight faded with two blue eyes burned in his mind.

 _So pretty._

* * *

 **Again, there is no shipping in this work of fiction!**


	2. Chapter 2

**JUST TO CLARIFY, Kung Fu Panda is owned by Dreamworks. Zootopia is owned by Disney.**

 **INSERT BEGINNING HERE!**

* * *

Judy paced back and forth, going from frantic, worried, shocked, and back to being frantic, and then having to get a carrot from her emergency bag and nibbling the end of it. Although her concern was nothing compared to the amount of trauma the small viper had.

They were both waiting in the lobby for a certain animal being held in a certain room. Animals we coming to and fro the halls, though it was just normally a slow day. The ringing bells of the elevator rung against the white walls with a few doctors, visitors, and patients going in and out the sliding doors. Benches were centered around each hall as far as Judy could see. The lobby itself was roomy, giving a lot of space for those who were claustrophobic, with seats and tables organized like sectionals, and while Viper was already supposed to be at school, she hadn't budged ever since Po fell unconscious on top of her. Almost stiff as a statue with her wide eyes, she never reacted to anything, even after Judy and Nick heaved the panda off her. She just lied still for as long as the two officers watched her.

They tried getting Viper out of her shock, trying to pat her cheeks, snap at her eyes, almost yelled at her, clapped idiotically like sea lions, and having Nick to somehow find an air horn and blast it against her head. Of course, none of that worked with everything they did, at least anything legal the two officers could think of and left some animals annoyed at the fox for using said air horn in public.

Speaking of the fox, Nick was at the front desk, talking to the receptionist and having to handle some files, which he groaned about, but it was admittedly better than waiting for a certain sloth to finish asking a question.

He took a breath of air and shook his head. "Is there really no info on that kid? No, registration, no home, no anything?" His hands gestured as if completely bamboozled. "Did the orphanage throw him out?"

"I'm sorry sir, but there is little to no information we have on the young cub. You may speak with a doctor to be able to handle any legal papers for him, but I can only do so much to help you with any documents. Are you his guardian for the time being?" The receptionist, an orange female fox, looked up to Nick curiously.

He blinked and clicked his tongue. "Nope. Can't do much for the kid, let alone try to raise one."

The receptionist glared at Nick.

 _Maybe Carrots can take care of that panda._ The fox thought to himself. "Okay is there anything important that I should know about the panda?" He continued.

"For now, I don't have anything for someone who wouldn't care enough to raise a child, no."

He noticed the sass behind her tone. "Try not to get too emotionally attached to your patients, but thanks. Hopefully, the old grumps don't bother you too much." He turned around and walked away. The female fox took a while to process what he said and she gasped, glaring at the behind of Nick. He pocketed his hands and went down the hall where Judy and Viper were waiting, not forgetting to smirk happily to himself.

Judy finished making a full NASCAR cycle and turned to Nick, finding him staring at her awkwardly with the carrot in her mouth.

"What're ya doin', Carrots?" He asked emphasizing her nickname. She quickly hid the carrot behind her, and after a moment of more awkward staring, stuffed it back into her emergency bag. "At least it's a healthy impulse." He added. "So what's up with the snake here?"

She wriggled a bit, trying to figure out what to do, and cleared her voice. "She went through some trauma, at least that's what it looks like, and has been in silence ever since the panda fell on her. The doctor gave her a checkup just in case, but she says she's doing fine." She composed herself and pulled out a notepad, flipping over some pages and read a few notes. "Um... the panda seems around eight or nine years old and is abnormally fit for his species. The nurse said he's functioning normally and all his vital signs were all within a healthy panda. There's not much else we can get at the moment other than having the cub unconscious."

Nick hummed to himself. "Anything else?"

"So far, that is all we got for now." She sighed.

"You sure?"

"Yep... puh." She made a popping sound with her lips, exaggerating the blank they've drawn. Nick smiled to himself, knowing how the bunny would react when frustrated.

"Have you asked the snake any questions?"

"Yes, I did." She replied. "Although, she didn't respond to a lot of my questions."

"What about her history?"

"Got nothing."

"Tattoos?"

"Silence."

"Her age?"

"Around six or seven."

"Didn't say?"

"Yep."

"What's the date?"

"It's October 18, 2017."

"Man, time does fly when you're busy." He said to himself. "What time is it and when did the incident happen?"

"Right now, it's eight o'clock and the incident happened around 7:47."

"When's Gazelle's next show?"

"Oh for crying out loud! What are you getting at here?" Judy placed her hands on her hips and leaned a bit towards Nick.

"Hey, have some fun while at work won't ya? No need to take this job so seriously all the time." Nick said while mocking a gesture of surrender. It was at times like these where Judy really wanted the hammer slammed down on the fox, but she also had to admit one thing. At times like these, Nick would mention something the bunny couldn't even see.

She wrestled with herself mentally until she let out a really deep and long sigh. "Okay, what did I miss?"

Nick clasped his paws together and smiled a little too mischievously. "So..." He turns to Viper who was still gazing off somewhere else. "She hasn't answered any questions whatsoever, whether it'd be a pinch, snap, or yell, something obviously has got itself stuck in her mind." He said. He then confidently looks back up to the bunny, making the same trademarked smirk everyone knows. "The problem here is the solution. We need to get whatever traumatized her to get her back to reality." He continued.

Judy gave a look of confusion, having to forget to blink and rubbed her eyes afterward.

"Okay. We know that this is a viper, one of the many species of snakes. We also know that she's green and has some tattoos running down her body. And, we know that she's female from the way she moved, spoke, and of course how much makeup she's using." Nick said. He waited for Judy to nod impatiently for stating the obvious. "From her size and age, we know that she's a young girl. And you know what young girls tend to fantasize?"

"Getting whatever they want?"

"Like you." He muttered. Somewhere in the world, a hiss could be heard followed by a serious amount of cringe.

"Wait, wh-"

"You're very close but that isn't the answer," Nick said cutting her off. "They... Love... Romance! And because they love romance, they act shy and try to attract guys that get their attention. What else is there to it? This snake was hit with romance that she wasn't even ready for! So, now she's stuck in shock after dealing with everything that just happened minutes ago."

A long silence fell over the two with Nick building up all his momentum as he hung his arms out. Judy looked at him exasperated, her mouth slightly agape at Nick's hypothesis. She blinked, once to take everything in, and twice, manually closing her mouth so drool wouldn't fall out.

"How does that even make sense? It sounds insane!" She yelped.

"Yeah. You're right. That DOES sound insane. I'm an idiot for saying all of that. I apologize for saying something so very stupid." He put his hand against his chest and bowed slightly. He sighed and clicked his tongue. "You know, all this talking has made me hungry. You still have the takeout with you?"

"Yeah... Here you go." She went over to the bench and handed him his breakfast.

"Thanks." He held the white box and smirked softly. "Ah. The smooth and silky noodles, the wet, stuffed white rice, the juicy mango bits of succulent fruit." He smiles waving his head side-to-side. "Mm-mm-mm, this is gonna be amazing. Now, where did I leave those chopsticks?" He pulled out a pair of wooden sticks out of his back pocket and split them in half, listening to the satisfying sound of wood cracking.

"Now for the best part." He slowly grabbed on to the lid and opened it.

Poof.

The smell of warm and steamy noodles burst through the halls like wildfire. It even blew back Viper and Judy a bit, surprising them with the wafts of food in the lobby. A few animals took a deep breath of the fresh smell of breakfast, sighing to themselves in delight. Nick smirked as he watched Judy do the same, and with him catching her doing so, she pouted.

"No need to make the smell of food so dramatic." She said, crossing her arms and frowned.

"Oh no. I didn't make it dramatic. He did." He pointed over his shoulder.

"What?"

The entire building rumbled for a few seconds, alarming all animals within the hospital until the sound of a heavy metal door slamming against a wall rocketed the halls. Some footsteps could be heard followed by a kid quickly approaching the group, letting his tongue out with sparkles in his eyes.

It was Po.

"NOODLES!" He yelled, swiftly grabbing the styrofoam box. He sat on the floor, fully preparing for a good meal as saliva fell down his mouth like a waterfall. "Oh! I forgot." He clasped his paws together and prayed, finishing off with thanks. "Thank the Lord for the food!" Without any hesitation, he lifts the box and dropped all the food down into his mouth.

He chewed for a bit, the bulges of his cheeks following his movement as he munched down the grub. He paused, letting the taste sink into the bumps of his tongue. The satisfaction drowned him like a rising tide, slowly slugging him forward almost to the point of passing out. He sat still for who knows how long until he continued chewing again.

All three pairs of eyes stared at him. Judy and Viper were struck with shock finding the panda recovered from his loss of oxygen. As for Nick, he was a bit annoyed but also surprised for the panda. He's acting as if nothing happened a few minutes ago, apart from coming all the way down to the lobby to get some food, which the fox grumbled at saying he earned it with his hard work.

"Gonna need to make four more arrests now." He mumbled.

A few doctors and nurses were jogging down halls, calming and assuring every animal that an earthquake had passed. Many families were shocked, but none were having a panic attack, which was relieving for most of the staff, but they still didn't waste a moment to check up on all patients.

Nick looked around a bit, watching and listening if anyone thought the panda was the one responsible for making such a ruckus, though he found a bunch of animals too busy or occupied for their safety or that of their relatives. He sighed and turned to the girls next to him.

"So... what do you think?"

"What do I think? That panda needs to stay unconscious!" Judy yelped.

"Where there is a will, there's a way."

"Oh, don't you start with me now." She pointed at the red fox. The two of them traded phrases and their bickering brought out the impression of a young couple. Although, a certain pair of blue eyes zoned in on the panda.

Viper's mind tuned out the blabbering going on in the background. She narrowed her peripherals only to Po, and even if she looked like a creep doing so, no one even noticed. Viper blinked as Po made his first gulp of chum between his cheeks. She could almost hear the sound of partially digested food landing at the bottom of his stomach.

She watched all of this with uncomfortably intense curiosity. This panda was intriguing, almost in the sense of prey, and the way his cheeks jiggled was cute. The black ends of his ears perked up in a way that entranced her. The way he kicks his feet was too adorable. And his fur, stiff and thick, made him look so colorful in such a dull facility. She felt a feeling that never in her life came up before.

The smile on Po's face locked in on Viper's memory. The longer she looked at him, the harder it was to look away. Viper couldn't help but bring herself closer to Po. Something so dark and cynical slowly shown up inside Viper, a thought so instinctive came up to her, she welcomed it wholly with open arms.

 **"I just wanna eat you up."**

"Hm?" Po turned around. "You wanna eat some too?"

"Huh?" She blinked at the response.

Po obnoxiously slurped on some drool falling down the ends of his lips, which disgusted Viper back to Earth. "Ewww." She cringed a bit, trying not to remember the sight of him being disgusting.

"Uh... I ate aw of da food." Po said whilst disgustingly having his mouth full. He thought to himself and quickly came up with an idea. "Oh! Here!" He opened his mouth and let out a giant blob of you-know-what fall onto his hand. He held out his hand to Viper.

"You can have the rest!"

...

O...

M...

G...

The food, eww. The panda, eww. The earnest offer, eww. The smell... OH GOD EWW!

"Ew ew ew! That is so gross!" Viper covered her mouth and turned away from such a mind bore-ing sight, trying VERY hard not to even think that 'thing' exists. She tried her best not to cry from the disgusting stench, but the instinct to gag was overwhelming her. Only one word went through her mind at such a breaking point.

Disgusting.

Truly, horribly, f—ing DIS-GUS-TING!

Viper wrapped her coils and sunk her head into a small opening she made for her head to fit in to try and block out some of the smell. It was the only service she could think of that would save her from a tormenting experience.

Po stared at Viper the entire time she went on girly-mode, not batting an eye to her reactions. It was almost if he legitimately waited for her reply to his weird gesture. Two minutes later, he had to take back the food into his mouth. The blob was starting to fall off his hands, so he resorted to swallowing the meal.

The panda let out a burp and gave out a sigh of satisfaction. He laid back on his hands and listened intently to the bickering Judy and Nick were having, and speak of the devil, they were about to wrap up on a conclusion Judy thought up of. Nick turned to Po with beads of sweat going down his entire face, but they weren't sweat going down for Nick.

He worried about the life of Po.

As for the panda, he could only look in confusion at the state of things.

* * *

"So-"

"Do I have to bring the Chief in order for you to shut up?" Judy asked, being remarkably hostile towards Nick.

"Can I at least ask how we got here?" The fox pleaded. The four animals were now in front of the school known as Woodlands Elementary School, but that wasn't what the fox was curious about.

Judy spoke with Boro about everything they witnessed. Boro, being the chief he is as the buffalo of the police force, he told Judy to find an orphanage. She was shocked to hear those words, to say the least, realizing how scary a child's life can be without a parent to live alongside them. The bunny wanted to retort, but Boro stopped her, telling her that they were the police force, not a childcare facility. Again, Judy wanted to argue but sealed her lips.

She then called Master Viper, without first asking Viper who her parents were, and the line reached Viper's mother. Judy felt a little relaxed as Viper's mother was well-spoken, having her manners similar to that of a gentle female. The conversation held such a gentle atmosphere, that is until the woman in the line asked what the officer called her for. Eventually, the phone was passed on to Master Viper, the father of Viper.

"I see that my daughter has gotten into quite the situation." The snake said. "I won't ask how the police involved themselves into this, but may I ask how Viper is at the moment?" He asked.

Judy was about to question the master's knowledge of their situation, but she got an answer before she even put the thought away.

"I have my ways of knowing what happens to my family." He said, acting as if he knew what she was thinking.

She blinked at his comment, and took a moment to herself since her train of thought was broken as soon as the master picked up the phone. They continued into the topic of dropping Viper off at her school if possible, in to which Judy told the master that the parent/guardian would have to do so themselves for legal reasons. A few more minutes passed with other small details such as the location to pick up Viper, any charges for small crimes, etc, and Judy ended the call with a sigh. She would then lead the group to the school Viper was enrolled in.

"How we got here is what you've already heard. We bring the boy into the orphanage so that Master Viper can adopt the cub. It's a bit weird how Master Viper accepted the news so quickly when we called him, but at least we don't have to worry about the cub having to live without any parents." Judy answered. It was then she remembered that the master asked if he could adopt the cub, seeing as when Judy mentioned that the panda Viper encountered was an orphan. "You know, Nick, can you bring the cub to the orphanage?" She turned to the fox.

Nick, who was busy looking at a window shop full of wristwatches, was thinking of other things while the bunny was staring at him. He admittedly found the merchandise to show off some clean and slick clocks at the front window, with the glass tops reflecting the light of the sun like a mirror. The most prominent colors they had up front were grey, white, and black and there was an orange tag underneath one of the silver watches, probably signifying that it was an exclusive product for sale. He definitely had his sights keen on that watch.

After a minute of silence with Judy waiting for a response, she walked over to him and tugged on his tie. "Come on Mr. Cop on watch, we need to get to work." Another tug and Judy was dragging a statue who had his feet scraping roughly against the ground. With Nick now present in the group, the officer turned to the kids who were staring at the school.

"Okay, look. I want you to bring the panda to an orphanage. That's all I need you to do." Judy said. "It's a simple job. Just make sure that you don't lose sight of the cub. Got it?"

"Yes, ma'am. Just make sure to remind me where we'll be meeting up after this. Don't want you to lose sight of me as Chief Big Horns asked you right?" He left patting Po's shoulder and motioning him to follow. It was then he noticed that Po was talking to Viper, yet the two practically looked like they weren't even paying attention to each other. He let their sight intrigue him for a bit more until Judy called Nick's name. He turned to her and she impatiently gestured for him to go. He shrugged and waved his hand in front of Po.

The little panda blinked and looked up to the fox, having to hold up his conversation with Viper.

"We have to go little bud." The fox said.

After a moment of hesitation, Po turned to Viper. They both took a moment to look into each other's eyes before the little cub turned to face Nick.

"Go where?" Po asked.

"Uh..." Nick turned over to his thoughts before he came up with a confused expression. "I'm... not sure."

"Me neither," Po said.

Nick looked at Po curiously before following up with his weird comment.

"Just follow me."


End file.
